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Dessert

Cold Bkead Pudding

A chilled bread pudding made with stale bread, currants, milk, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and served with cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Cold Bkead Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut a small loaf of stale bread into thin slices.

  2. Wash and pick one pint of currants.

  3. Butter the slices of bread.

Assemble

  1. Put a layer of bread in the bottom of a pudding mold.

  2. Sprinkle the currants over the bread layer.

  3. Put more bread and crumbs on top until all is used.

Make the custard and let it stand

  1. Beat four eggs and a half cup of sugar together with one pint of milk and a little grated nutmeg.

  2. Pour the mixture over the bread.

  3. Let stand half an hour until brown.

Cool and serve

  1. Set away to cool.

  2. Serve with cream sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

338Calories
15 gProtein
14 gFat
41 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Currant + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  2. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Currant + eggtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bread (in the method)
Soaks up the custard and forms the body of the pudding.
Eggs
Set the custard so the pudding holds together.
Milk
Supplies the liquid that makes the custard moist and soft.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown.
Currants
Add fruity sweetness and moist pockets throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Pouring the custard over the bread and letting it stand. The bread needs time to absorb the egg and milk mixture before the eggs set. Pouring evenly and allowing the full standing time keeps the pudding moist and evenly set rather than dry in spots or watery at the bottom.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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